Sunday’s horrific mass shooting in Orlando was carried out with a legally purchased AR-15. The legal purchase and the mass murder were both carried out by the same man, Omar Mateen, despite having been on a terrorist watch list at one point. How did we get here?
Well, in 2013, the Senate—including, to their shame, a number of Democrats—voted down a proposal to reinstate an assault weapons ban and a proposal for expanded background checks. Assault-style rifles have become the weapon of choice for mass shootings, but heaven forbid the United States regulate them more tightly, because back in the day the founding fathers were pro-musket—at least in a militia setting.
Then, last December, Senate Republicans voted to allow people on the no-fly list to keep their guns.
Gosh, how ever did we get to this point?
Oh, and by the way, the Republican presidential nominee, who wants to ban Muslims from entering the country (never mind the fact Omar Mateen was born here) won't consider an assault weapons ban because “There are a million of them already out there.” (An observation that could be applied to Muslims as well, but no—let’s ban people, not guns.)
Consider each and every life lost to mass shootings one stark reminder of why we need to retake Congress and keep Donald Trump out of the White House.